The feelings that a sports team’s fans have about their team’s nickname/logo are incredibly strong, maybe more so today than even in years past. In the old days and in every sport, plenty of athletes would spend their entire careers with one team, whereas that’s incredibly rare now. So when we’re rooting for a team, it may consist of almost entirely new personnel from one year to the next.

THIS makes the team nickname one of the only consistent aspects with which to identify. We end up rooting for an icon and an image, whether it’s a Giant, a Viking, a Bruin, or a King.

And that’s why this brouhaha over the Washington Redskins’ nickname has folks so thoroughly steamed.

Yet again, behavior which was once the hallmark of our nation is being eradicated. We’ve touched on this in the past (in “Land of the Fearful; Home of the Meek“), but the examples keep coming, with no end in sight. In a different time, the people listed below would be considered “brave” or “courageous” by almost any measure.

But today?

Well, do you recall the story of 20-year-old volunteer EMT Stephen Sawyer? He was the only one around when a call came in about a 4-year-old who was having a seizure:

(via Fox News) – “…After making several unsuccessful calls for ambulances, Sawyer said he made the decision to drive the ambulance to save the child – violating the rule that only people age 21 or older can drive the emergency vehicle…”

I’ve got nuthin’ against progress. I agree that going from 8-tracks to CD’s to MP4’s is a good thing, and having a camera and a computer in my cell phone is awesome. Heck, just having the cell phone itselfis still awesome.

But not all progress is necessarily a positive, in this old fuddy-duddy’s opinion. ‘Cause, somehow, we’ve gone from seeing these:

Two different headlines this week are the reason: one about a murderous shooting spree and the other detailing a high school classroom scuffle. And if you’ll grant me just a minute or three of your time, I promise I’ll explain.

“…Oh! You’ve nothing to say They’ll drag you away! If you listen to fools: The mob rules, …the mob rules…”

One of my mother’s Top Five Sayings revolved around thinking for ourselves, and it had been drilled into her by the nuns when she was a child: “Right is Right even if NOBODY’s right, and Wrong is Wrong even if EVERYBODY’s wrong“. In other words, don’t let the current popular opinion sway your morals or judgement.

Or shorter: don’t follow the mob, no matter what.

Never in my life has the wisdom of that simple lesson been on more obvious display than recently.

This week we witnessed the Leftist Mob Of Tolerance call for the scalp of Mozilla’s CEO, …and scarier still, we saw them get it. Regardless of this man’s viewpoints on marriage or ANY other highly debated topic, this was an undeserving fate for anyone living in an allegedly Free Society.

Worth noting is it seems to be the allegedly free-speech-loving Progressives who are always enamored with the removal or banning of words.Our institutes of higher learningseem especially smitten with this idea…”

And in light of this newest example, my observation can only be termed disturbingly prescient: